Why Seafriends?

It often takes just one person to say "Enough is enough" and start a movement
to do something about a deteriorating situation. By doing the first step,
in 1991, and by working on programmes for schools, the 'reason for being'
of the Seafriends movement became more and more clear. In a nutshell, Seafriends
was born from the following motivations:

Deterioration

The quality of coastal seawater is deteriorating almost everywhere

Species are disappearing from places where they have been known to abound

Nuisance blooms of plankton and jellyfish are occurring in densities never
seen before

Shellfish are being poisoned to a degree that is dangerous to humans

Mass mortalities have been observed of fish species and lower animals,
as never known before

Obviously something needs to be done even though the problems appear to
be insurmountable.

Education

The sea is such an unknown environment that young and old do not know
what lives there. It would be unreasonable to expect their support for
conservation measures affecting creatures that they have never met or don't
know that exist. So education is very important. Although we focused initially
on school children, all New Zealanders should join in:

Our country is very unique in the world, being sited in a watery part of
the world, the water hemisphere. Our terrestrial fauna and flora has no
equivalent and almost equally unique is our sea life. It is a small country.
Conservation to preserve the diversity of our wildlife is therefore more
urgent than that of any other place on earth..

Because of our EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone) we have more sea than almost
any other nation. The sea furthermore plays an important role in the lives
and aspirations of New Zealanders.

The sea is inaccessible to most people. Only by opening it up and showing
what lives there, can we win support and win people's hearts for it.

People are not noticing how fast the sea is deteriorating.Even scientists
remain unaware.

Information to learn about the environment, its ecology and conservation,
is hard to find. Although much has been published, it is either scattered
in many fragments, very superficial or not easily understood. Scientific
journals are not freely accessible. The learning process just takes too
much time, and there is so much to learn.

This Internet site is the start of an educational programme but much more
needs to be done. It is our goal to accelerate learning on the topics presented
in this web site, one hundred fold! So you won't be wasting your time.

Debate

As it stands, decisions are being made by governmental departments,
local bodies and scientists. Laws are passed and decisions made that the
public has no idea of. It may lead to resistance and resentment and it
also leaves the door wide open to the making of bad decisions.

The public needs to be better informed

There must be more and informed debate

Public debate requires that people join the organisation to give it substance.
Articles have to be written in newspapers and magazines. The actions of
decisionmakers need to be monitored and valuable feedback given. But first
of all, people need to understand the issues and know what they are talking
about.

Why this web site?

In the time that I've been living in New Zealand, trying to understand
the marine environment, I have learned enough to begin disseminating this
information. I've found it hard to find information and to gather facts.
Scientific publications are hard to understand, are difficult to obtain
and are not suitable for the general public. Books are expensive to obtain.

I noticed that the world is awash in unfounded opinions of every kind,
conflicting statements that block the progress of good decision making.
I wondered if it were possible to create a web site that brings trustworthy
logic, reliable facts and step by step learning amidst the swamp of nonsense
that surrounds us. I like you to learn what I've learned, but in a fraction
of the time it took me. In this web site I'm trying to achieve just that.
It should become the complete and uptodate resource for step by step understanding
of the facts, trends, natural laws, policies, history, biology and human
nature, in order to conserve our environment by common sense. It should
empower you to take part in the political processes, now dominated by stakeholders,
scientists and armchair conservationists. It should also celebrate the
amazing wonders of the sea and help you to enjoy conservation even more.
And above all, it should make a difference to the future of our children.

The underwater environment is a strange world. So strange in fact, that
we cannot possibly understand it with the knowledge of terrestrial ecosystems.
So there is much to learn about the oceans and its many environmental factors.
The world is changing. So fast in fact, that we have to reorientate
ourselves at least once every ten years. New environmental problems arrive
at an ever faster pace. In order to respond, we need to be on the ball
and learn fast.
Problems do not just affect every one of us; our habits and customs
are their very causes. If we wish to fix the problems, rather than to just
fix the symptoms, we need to actively take part in environmental monitoring,
the political process, changing our habits and attitudes and more. There
is also much to learn.

It will take many years before this web site is complete and perhaps
it will never be. As long as it contains the understanding necessary for
managing our precious world, it will have served its purpose. Remember
that your help is as important as your knowledge. Learn as much as you
can, but also help to make this a better resource. Give your time to a
better future for us all, and help us with donations.
It can be done!

If you like to stay in touch with additions to this site, send us an
e-mail.

History of Seafriends

1990 - Commitment made

1991 - Building plans for an educational complex, which had to
be abandoned through lack of finance

2005 - Invented the Dark Decay Assay
to measure the health of aquatic ecosystems, discovering several overlooked
ecological laws in the process. Published our first
CD.

2006 - Began the seminars programme
'What is happening to our seas?' to spread awareness of NZ's rapidly degrading
environment, but this was discontinued for lack of interest. Published
our second CD. A beginning made with large educational posters.

2007 - Our third educational CD. Many more posters.

2008 - Summer exhibition 'Secrets of our seas - exposed'. Changes
to the marine aquariums to let more light in from outside.

2011 - Regretfully, Diane Hughes departs and Dr Anthoni suffers
a bad brainstroke causing partial paralysis. The time has come for a younger
generation to take over.

2014 - Seafriends business sold to Belgium-born Mr Kwinten De
Vos.But Dr Anthoni vows to complete this website.
Update June 2015: In a callous
act of vandalism, the "new management
team" gave most of the library books away to passing visitors, thereby
effectively destroying this unique collection which was intended as a gift
to future generations.

About Floor Anthoni

Here follows a concise summary of my life. I'd like to show you some photos
how inside one generation one can move from a world without electricity
or TV to one dominated by instant communication and computers for toys.
Some of those photos would look funny indeed in today's world.

1942-1945 Interned by the Japanese occupational forces in internment
camps in Batavia (Jakarta) and Bandung. My earliest memories are that of
transport in a Douglas Dakota military plane and my grandmother dying in
camp.

1946 In Holland for my sick father to recover from the ravages
and malnutrition of war.

1947 - 1958 Indonesia, West-Java, at various plantations, from
Rubber to Tea. Two holiday visits to Holland. Finished college in Jakarta
(Carpentier Alting Stichting CAS).

1964 Married to Maria Hedwig Catharina Cecilia Liduina ten Berge.
We didn't see much of each other during military service.

1965 - 1968 Military service with the army. Started work at the
Defence Research Organisation TNO. Rank 1st Lieut.

1965 - 1975 National Defence Research Organisation (TNO-RVO)
in Rijswijk. At the Medical Biological Laboratory I was responsible for
the Electronics Department, serving all other departments. Early computers
of the DIGITAL PDP8 family prompted me to study computer operating systems
and to set down the design parameters for modular design.

1975 PhD in computer science (degree Dr) at the Technological
University of Delft (the place with 7000 guys and 100 girls) 'A foreground/background
real-time modular operating system'

1975 Emigrated to New Zealand with wife and two children, a boy
and a girl.

1976 Settled in Leigh where we still live. Started to bring the
10Ha farmlet into production.

1975 - 1997 Own computer company (ACAC=Anthoni Computer Automations
Consulting Ltd) for computer consulting and turn-key systems. Specialty
applications concrete to fashion. Learning the land, the sea, the people
and a new language.

The images below can be used for magazines who request a photo of the author.
Click on the photo for a larger version.

Making a start - the Seafriends philosophy

Seafriends will eventually be an organisation backed by thousands of members
and perhaps dozens of conservation groups. It is important to make the
Seafriends philosophy and plans known at the very beginning, so that people
know what they support and where they stand. See the blueprint
for more details (now obsolete).

The organisation must remain agile and rely on the initiatives deployed
by its various members. We therefore acknowledge people's own responsibilities
and initiatives and we accept that in doing so, mistakes will be made.

We believe that lessons are to be learned from mistakes and as such they
should be valuable.

Members and member organisations are not bound by rules and regulations
imposed by the executive. There won't be any rules. But we will have a
system in place that enables us to learn from our mistakes and in such
a way that newcomers to the organisation can learn quickly.

We do want members and member organisations to accept the general direction
so that people work synergistically rather than antagonistically. The members
support the Seafriends goals and the Seafriends organisation represents
its members.

We wish to focus on New Zealand's problems and will not tell other countries
what to do.

We wish to focus on matters relating to the sea, although the land is often
part of the problems.

In the process of debate, we wish to start doing something practical, because
from the act of doing, follows insight.

Wherever possible, solutions will be piloted to establish their merits,
before applying them wholesale.

We believe that decisions should be made rationally rather than emotionally
or on religious grounds.

We believe that grass-root education is better than top-down regulation.

We uphold the truth and will fight distortions, false propaganda and misleading
information.

The Seafriends Organisation

Seafriends: three entities, three purposes, one goal

The Seafriends organisation consists of three entities, the charitable
foundation, the society and the corporation. It aims
to bring together all sectors of society. In this manner, everyone has
a job and the work gets done. The main sectors of the New Zealand society
who should be making decisions about the sea are politicians, governmental
departments (DoC, MoF,MoE), research establishments (NIWA, Universities),
educational institutes, marine professions, marine recreation, business
people and the general public. Seafriends aims to bring these groups closer
together and particularly involve the public in the decision-making processes.

The Seafriends Foundation is a registered charitable foundation.
Its board of trustees consists of representatives from the various sectors
in society. They are respected members of society and influential in funding
the organisation. By separating the Foundation's tasks from the rest of
the organisation, the board of trustees will not be diverted by matters
of minor importance. The Foundation's aims are:

to provide an appropriate vehicle to seek public and private funds and
to attract sponsors

to manage these funds and assets in an accountable manner

to develop strategies and policies

to open a vision for the future

to oversee activities of the entire Seafriends organisation

The Seafriends Society is an incorporated society with a steering
committee and paid membership. The society's purposes are:

to provide a forum to 'network' its members

to provide information, facts and data to members and the general public

to foster informed debate

to make and execute plans

to train, educate and engage members and the public

to keep members and the public informed on a regular basis

The structure of the society is one with regional chapters and a national
committee.

Update 2015: The Seafriend Society has not yet been established
and no major donations have been received by the Foundation. The Corporation,
owned by Floor & Maria Anthoni, has been sold to Kwinten De Vos. Significant
changes are expected

The Seafriends Corporation is a non-profit company that adds
business skills to the organisation. The Corporationís purposes are:

to earn funds that can be spent in accordance with good business practice

to earn profits that keep the business viable

to manage SF facilities and projects in a cost-effective and business-like
manner

to execute plans and projects

to conduct the management, marketing and advertising functions of the organisation

to tender contracts and to select subcontractors from tenders

The Seafriends organisation is designed to operate at maximum efficiency
with minimum overheads, using modern communication methods wherever possible.
Most members donate time as a contribution to a better marine environment
and future.